A Lone Wolf is Not an Island
Peter comes face to face with his first villain, a powerhouse Russian mercenary named Maximus. After the second battle, allies are made, and convictions are written. Synopsis That night, Peter in his wolf form going by Alpha is out looking for any clues to who the ones bitten by the Beast before the next full moon, when he hears an alarm go off in a warehouse at the docks. When he investigates, he discovers Roland and his gang stealing weapons that were brought in secretly by the Argents to fight the new werewolves. Peter gets into the fight with Roland's gang. While Peter is fighting the goons, Roland hides in a secret room ready to shoot Peter, when he is attacked by Maximus who breaks in to fight Peter. After knocking Roland out, Maximus turns his attention to Peter and easily beats him by transforming into a huge Hulk-like creature. As Peter is left broken and beaten, Maximus leaves him with a warning that if Peter doesn't face him again in two days, he will smash the Everett Hospital into pieces. With what little strength left, Peter uses his cellphone to call Derek. Meanwhile, Derek is reflecting on his study session with Ashley, as she slept in his bed. It is revealed that Derek had a sister and a pack, but were all killed by a hunter who betrayed his family by setting the house on fire, and leaving Derek as the only survivor, while scarring his face. As Ashley sleeps, Derek receives the call from Peter and goes to get him. At the warehouse, Derek, in wolf form, finds Peter broken and beaten and takes him to the Full Moon Cafe which is run by Peter's step sister, Alice Backstrome…who is revealed to also be a werewolf. As Peter slept his wounds off, Alice reveals to Derek that she was the daughter of Bargiel Backstrome: a werewolf terrorist who led a team called the Watchers, and a Shinto priestess named Shiori Himeko. After her mother's death by a group sent to capture her father, Alice blamed him for her mother's death, and was taken in by her mother's relatives… until she was kicked out due to her werewolf heritage. At the age of ten, she traveled to the U.S. with her lycan abilities to survive. However, she was followed by the Himeko clan to kill her under the belief that she was destined to destroy their clan. Sir John and Singh managed to stop the death by negotiating a deal that would prevent Alice from returning to the Himeko's area, and for her to go by her father's last name. After that, Sir John adopted her into the Talbot family. After college, she opened the Half Moon Cafe, and has been running it ever since. Sir John then arrives with Singh and is not pleased with Peter going against his orders again. After discussing the details of Peter's assailant, Sir John and Singh return to the manor to research Maximus, while Derek and Alice stay to watch over Peter. Elsewhere, Kate is berating Maximus for not killing the new lycan. Maximus explains that he spared the werewolf (Peter/Alpha) to see if he had a pack who would come to defend him. Maximus finishes by saying he plans to finish the job the next time he and the wolf cross paths again. The next night at the cafe, Kylie is weeping over who could hurt a werewolf as well as ruin the outfit she made, explains how worried Christie is over not being able to contact Peter the night before, and marvels over Derek being a werewolf as well. Alice can tell that Christie has deep feelings for Peter and wonders how those two aren't a couple yet. Sir John and Singh return with info on Maximus, by using Sir John's connections when he was in the MI6 of the British Secret Service. He tells the group that Maximus was part of a secret Soviet project in the Cold War called the Titan Project to use a compound called Helix to enhance their soldiers physically. The project was abandoned after only one test subject which was Maximus, who destroyed the labs killing the scientists and escaping the prison he grew up in. After he escaped the prison, Maximus stole the Helix compound, and started his career as a mercenary for hire, remaining an unstoppable ageless monster. Peter wakes up just in time to hear on the news that the Everett Hospital has been taken hostage by Maximus, silently daring Peter to go out and stop him. Peter leaves to stop Maximus against Sir John's wishes by saying that after being turned, Peter can't turn a blind eye to all the innocent people caught up in his problems, and leaves. While Sir John knew he was trying to protect Peter, but also knew he couldn't ignore all the problems that were popping up since Peter was turned. After some wise words from Sir John and sad puppy dog looks from Alice and Kylie, Derek went to help Peter in a vigilante outfit Kylie made for him, which was originally as an upgrade for Peter’s outfit. At the hospital, Maximus was preventing any police from getting to any other patients still inside. Christie in her hunter's outfit sneaks inside to get Mikey out before his condition gets any worse. Just as she is about to get Mikey out while keeping her identity secret from him, Maximus finds them, and easily overpowers Christie. Alpha jumps into in time to save Christie, but then gets smashed into a wall by Maximus. As Maximus is leaving, he is stopped by Derek in his wolf form who is named Scar by Alpha. Scar gives Alpha a communicator so he can talk to his grandfather, who tells him that the Helix compound becomes useless when exposed to electricity. He uses the cables of the ceiling’s lights on Maximus who is fighting Scar by jamming them into the tube socket of his head. This causes Maximus to become angry, transform, and cause the floor to collapse sending the three down the hole. Christie/Huntress is confused by the actions of Alpha, and then headed for the elevator. On the bottom floor, Alpha and Scar are fighting Maximus until Alpha uses his new sonic howl to push Maximus into an electric generator which leads to him reverting to his human size. After the fight, the Huntress corners them with her silver weapons until Alpha defends them by offering himself in exchange for Scar. This changes her mind and lets them go, but asks him why he does what he does, and Alpha answers her. She then gains a respect for Alpha realizing that he was different from what she was taught by her family. Characters in Chapter * Peter Talbot * Sir John Talbot * Singh * Alice Backstrome (first appearance) * Maximus * Roland Zellinski * Mikey Corvis * Eddie Corvis (first appearance) * Kylie Ginxem * Christie Argent * Derek Xanders * Ashley Norwest Trivia * This chapter was inspired by the second half of the penultimate boss fight of Batman Arkham Origins against Bane. Category:Chapters